Intel has just spread some details about the successor to 300 series SSDs told its partners that it plans to have these new drives ready for Q3 2012.

The codename is Lincoln Crest and these drives are based on 20nm MLC technology. Intel is not ready to disclose the capacity, but we expect a range from 40GB to at least 600GB. These are all 2.5-inch drives based on 20nm MLC technology and they should offer value-series speeds. They should support SATA 6Gb/s when they come out, as the planned release date is Q3 2012.

The second series of high performance SSDs are codenamed King Crest and they are based on 20nm NAND technology. They should replace Cherryville 25nm MLC drives that are starting to ship in this quarter, Q4 2011. The new King Crest drives are SATA 6Gb/s capable and are 2.5-inch high performance parts. We expect that they will end up with a 500-series brand, anything higher than 510 is the possible winning combination.

The current high performance 510 series are capable of 500MB/s read and 315MB/s write, and we expect that Kings crest will be able to do much better than that. King Crest is expected in Q2 2012, some two quarters after Cherryville launches in Q4 2011.